Research News

Burning the Midnight Plastic: Researchers turn ocean debris into usable oil
When Bonnie Monteleone ’11M began her thesis for her master’s in liberal studies, she learned of the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” large swaths of marine debris created by non-biodegradable trash. Since then, Monteleone’s interest in keeping the ocean plastic-free has morphed into a lifelong passion project. After founding the national nonprofit Plastic Ocean Project, Monteleone has partnered with the UNCW chemistry department as well as PK Clean, a company dedicated to turning waste into fuel.more...

Research Takes Flight: UNCW biology student wins NC Coastal Reserve fellowship Over the years, climate change has affected much of the natural world. Scientists have studied related phenomena such as disappearing coral reefs and melting ice caps to understand how climate change is disrupting the patterns of nature. UNCW biology student Robert Snowden ’18M will make his contribution to this body of work by researching the historically understudied effects of changing environmental temperatures on seabird species.more...

UNCW Geography Professor Publishes in Prestigious Multidisciplinary Journal
UNCW assistant professor of Geography Narcisa Pricope serves as second author on a scholarly article entitled “Biodiversity Areas Under Threat: Overlap of Climate Change and Population Pressures on the World’s Biodiversity Priorities,” which has been published in the prestigious multidisciplinary open access journal PLOS ONE.more...

Publishing in Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Journal Prepares Students for the Future Eight years ago, Kate Bruce, UNCW professor of psychology and director of the Honors College, became the editor-in-chief for Explorations, the journal of undergraduate research and creative activities for the state of North Carolina. This year, for volume XI of the journal, a large number of UNCW students have been published, alongside the work of students from participating universities across the state. Going through the publishing process at such a young age is, according to Bruce, an invaluable experience for future researchers.more...

UNCW Alumna Discovers Crustacean Camouflage
Laura Bagge ’08, ’11M first discovered marine biology catching ghost crabs during summer visits to the aquarium near Emerald Isle, NC. That early interest inspired her to major in biology and marine biology at UNCW.more...

Panda Powell Travels to Russia to Work with Fellow Research Administrator
Director of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance Panda Powell recently returned from a trip to Russia to help build their university research administration capabilities. Powell was in the country Nov. 6-12 to work with a counterpart from Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University and attend a conference at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. more...

Inside Our Bones: 3-Dimensional MRI imaging in the classroom
Imagine doctors looking inside their patient’s bones, seeing each layer in order to pinpoint a problem without ever resorting to the operating table. Imagine researchers manipulating 3-D images of their subjects, breaking them down layer by layer without physical dissection. These scenarios may seem futuristic, but in reality this is cutting-edge research happening in labs and hospitals across the country. And now, it’s happening in UNCW classrooms. more...

The Policy of Change: UNCW students to help build up Navassa
A group of graduate students within the public administration and coastal and ocean policy programs have been working to effect change in small-town Navassa, NC. The students, along with public administration assistant professor Jennifer Biddle, are partnering with Navassa to assess and create new policies following site redevelopment for the historically disadvantaged community. more...

WCE’s Marta Sanchez is Co-Principal Investigator on $1.1 Million Federal Grant
UNCW and Duke are partnering institutions on a $1.1 million grant awarded to North Carolina Central University by the Institute of Education Sciences in June. Funds will be used to create a new Research Institute for Scholars of Equity, a program that will provide one-year research fellowships to up to 60 upper-level undergraduate students over five years, beginning in summer 2017. The goal is to develop a more diverse field of highly qualified education researchers. more...

Steering the Trolley: Predicting moral judgments
A trolley is running uncontrollably down the tracks toward five coal miners. The trolley cannot be stopped, but it can be diverted by an operator to a different track where it will hit only one coal miner. Where should the operator direct the trolley? Should the operator listen to emotions or logic when making this decision? Moral, high-risk decision-making questions like the trolley scenario interest UNCW psychology professor Dale Cohen and inform his research in support of his subjective utilitarian theory of moral judgment. more...

2016 UNCW Research Magazine
The 2016 issue of the UNCW Research Magazine is now live! Discover the exciting research being done in marine sciences and psychology, film studies and aquaculture. From Masonboro island to outer space, this issue of the UNCW Research Magazine shows where research and inquiry can take us. more...

Using the Past to Make Sense of the Present
History takes part in helping countries learn from the mistakes and successes of the past, social change and civic life. The study of art history, specifically ancient pottery, helps people learn more about daily life, habits, economic exchanges and architecture, to name a few. For associate professor of art and art history, Nicholas Hudson, the study of ceramic remains provides a voice to the average person when literature may not have. more...

UNCW Senior Creates Compounds in Hopes of Treating Neurodegenerative Diseases
Honors student, published writer, SURCA winner, American Chemical Society National Meeting presenter, and chemistry and biology double major – these are just a few of senior Kristen Maiden’s outstanding accomplishments during her time at UNCW. With more than 14,000 undergraduates attending UNCW, students find it difficult to stand out among their peers; however, Maiden has undoubtedly made her mark. more...

UNCW Researchers Recognized by Eli Lilly Open Innovation Drug Discovery Initiative
Recently, three UNCW-affiliated researchers were recognized by the Eli Lilly Open Innovation Drug Discovery (OIDD) for their molecular contributions to biological testing. Jeremy Morgan, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Stephen Eitelman, business development consultant for MARBIONC, and Nicole Palmer ’16, former undergraduate student in chemistry, all had hands in helping the UNCW chemistry department win the Lilly OIDD Outstanding Continuous Contribution to Compound Screening Award. more...

Researching the Roots of Unemployment
In 2014, the Southern Sociological Society (SSS), under the leadership of former UNCW professor Leslie Hossfeld, introduced the Persistent Poverty in the South project (PPS). Two years later, four separate research projects are underway across four different universities. One such project is being led by Jill Waity, assistant professor of sociology at UNCW. more...

Gerontology Goes Global After accepting a position at UNCW in August 2015, Anne Glass, professor and program coordinator for the gerontology department, has spent the past year reimagining the scope of gerontology at UNCW. Glass has many plans to refocus the department, and one vital part of those plans is to get the program more involved in the global conversation on aging. more...

Embodying the Other: Pedagogical Research to Achieve Loving Perception Lights, camera, action. This is a familiar phrase in the filmmaking world. It's a condensed retelling of what goes into creating a movie, a documentary or a television show. For Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock, associate professor of communication studies at UNCW, the popular phrase disregards the intricate and sometimes arduous process of making a film through the lens of performance ethnography. According to Scott-Pollock, performance ethnography is a way to experience and find empathy with another cultural experience through performing the narratives of individuals within that culture. more...

Researchers Unite to Reduce Stress of Veterans with PTSD The homecoming of a soldier should be an exciting experience; a breath of relief for loved ones waiting eagerly at home. But what happens when what should be a joyous reunion is interrupted by the reality of war? Post-traumatic stress disorder shakes the expected reentry into one of fear and anxiety. According to United States Veteran Services, approximately 12% of US Iraqi veterans experienced PTSD. Each of those diagnosed must go through six to eight hours of testing immediately once returning to America, a long, grueling burden that senior statistics major Danielle Gaal and psychology graduate student Angela Sekely are trying to ease. more...

UNCW Aquaculture Faculty Receive NC Sea Grant North Carolina has the benefit of offering some truly beautiful and varied natural landscapes. From the mountains to the plains to the beaches, the state appeals to nature lovers of all kinds. UNCW researchers are exposed to unique opportunities in biology and marine biology, thanks to the university's unique coastal location. more...

The Nature of Creative Research: MFA Creative Writing Candidates Present Their Theses For third-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) creative writing candidates, the end of spring semester is a stressful time full of frantic writing, revising and meetings with advisors. These master's students have been polishing their manuscript-length theses of carefully researched fiction, nonfiction and poetry for graduation and, if they're lucky, publication. This is the case for third-year University of North Carolina Wilmington MFA students Diane Sorensen (fiction), Cathe Shubert (poetry) and Katie O'Reilly (nonfiction). more...

Crus-NC Program Brings Student Researchers to the Coast This spring, the University of North Carolina Wilmington launched a new program called Coastal Research for Undergraduate Students in North Carolina (Crus-NC). The program is a semester-long opportunity to engage students in coastal research alongside mentors in their chosen field at one of North Carolina's coastal marine labs. more...

Mapping the Brain in UNCW's Trauma and Resilience Lab Child abuse and child neglect are the two of the most preventable catalysts that lead to mental health problems in adulthood. This is why Kate Nooner, associate professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, has dedicated so much time and effort into her Trauma and Resilience Lab. The goal of the lab is to integrate neuroscience into studying risk and resilience behaviors following childhood trauma and abuse. more...

College of Health and Human Services' 2016 Research Day Research day is an annual CHHS event that provides an opportunity for faculty and students to celebrate the scholarly efforts of the CHHS. It takes place during the Health and Human Services week and consists of a keynote speaker; a scientific poster session, showcasing the work of our CHHS faculty and students; a distinguished professor presentation and podium presentations for interprofessional research award winners. more...

New 'CISME' Technology Developed to Study Coral Health For the past six years, Dr. Alina Szmant, coral reef ecologist and former Professor of Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and her colleague, Dr. Rob Whitehead, a Research Specialist at the UNCW Center for Marine Science, have been developing a new instrument for diving scientists to measure coral health indicators. Szmant calls the instrument CISME, short for 'Coral In Situ MEtabolism.' The instrument is designed to measure coral metabolic rates wherever the coral lives without harming it. Szmant hopes CISME will open up a new chapter in coral physiological research. more...

John Morrison's Satellite Project Is Out of This World UNCW professor John M. Morrison is leading a team of scientists from UNCW; Cloudland Instruments of Santa Barbara, CA; Clyde Space of Glasgow, UK; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; and Hawk Institute for Space Sciences who have received a two-year grant for $1,675,000 from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as a "proof of concept to demonstrate capability to constuct low-cost autonomous nanosatellites to provide sustained, high spatial resolution and temporal resolution information about the surface ocean processes." more...

ARNOVA Conference Honors Dr. Jeff Brudney
In mid-September 2015, public and international affairs professor Jeffrey Brudney journeyed to Ghana, Africa as a member of a small team of scholars selected by the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). more...

Revolutions in Recreation Therapy
In 1998, when Dan Johnson joined UNCW's College of Health and Human Services, the recreation therapy program included two faculty members and about 30 students. Today, it offers a dozen courses to 150 students, more than 90 percent of who pass the field's national exam .more...

Revolutions in Recreation Therapy
In 1998, when Dan Johnson joined UNCW's College of Health and Human Services, the recreation therapy program included two faculty members and about 30 students. Today, it offers a dozen courses to 150 students, more than 90 percent of who pass the field's national exam .more...

HIV Outreach Among Women
Dr. Paula Reid, UNCW School of Nursing, continues to enhance health care for underserved populations. The recent recipient of a Corbett Grant for her scholarship on how women manage their HIV, Reid also has a support group in Jacksonville, serves on the board of directors for a regional HIV consortium, and has joined the International Nursing Network for HIV/AIDS Research. more...

Coral Sponges and Our Eco-Future
Lindsey Deignan, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in marine biology, is demystifying the ocean floor. In collaboration with advisor Joseph Pawlik, as well as fellow graduate students, Deignan has uncovered new information about underwater ecosystems, by actually living among them. more...

Social Work Helps Military Families
While she's only recently joined the faculty at UNCW's College of Health and Human Services, Assistant Professor Jessica Strong is already helping improve the experience of local military families. Strong, whose previous areas of study include domestic violence and sexual assault, is channeling efforts toward a better understanding of parenting and family life within the military. more...